The two-day conference is open to undergraduate and postgraduate humanities students as well as the public. Although much has been said about Andy Warhol, he remains one of the 20th century's most elusive artists. The conference aims to investigate the major themes in the artist's work such as fame, consumerism and death, and asks can Warhol be uncovered?

The conference is being held to complement the Andy Warhol Artists Rooms 2011 national touring exhibition which gives an overview of his work from 1951 to 1987. The exhibition features nearly two hundred works; paintings, prints, posters, photographs and film, and will be displayed across two of the Southern England’s most prestigious art galleries the John Hansard Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery.

Southampton is a modern, multi-cultural maritime city located in the center of the South coast and served by excellent road, rail and air links. For further details http://www.visit-southampton.co.uk/

Conference fees
One day £12. Two days £20. For further information and bookings contact the John Hansard Gallery on: 023 8059 2158 or email: hansard@soton.ac.uk http://www.hansardgallery.org.uk/

Call for conference papers
Undergraduate and postgraduate students are invited to submit papers of 20 minutes in length that consider Warhol in relation to the following interlinked conference themes:

Theme A: Celebrity. Why was Warhol fascinated with celebrity, and can we draw parallels with today's celebrity obsessed culture?

Theme B: Vulgarity. How did bad taste function in Warhol's art? Papers might discuss the aesthetics of Warhol’s work, the use of consumer imagery and his film work.

Theme C: Consumerism. What was Warhol's relation to consumerism; critique or complicity or both? Can he be pinned down?

Theme D: Death. Warhol’s work is haunted by a sense of absence and mortality. Papers could address death and American celebrities, and death as spectacle

We strongly encourage submissions that draw on a range of disciplines such as art history, cultural studies, sociology and philosophy as the wide-ranging nature of Warhol's oeuvre invites a cross disciplinary approach.

If you are interested in contributing to the conference, please send proposals of no more than 250 words and your institutional affiliation to the conference convenor Peter Jones by email at peter.jones@solent.ac.uk by 15th April 2011. Speakers pay no conference fees.
http://www.hansardgallery.org.uk/education/conferences.html